pretty tricky prep question

[jc114]

The greatest road system built in the Americas prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending from northern Ecuador through Peru to Southern Chile.
A..
B. Columbus was the Incan highway, over 2500 miles in length, and extended
C. Columbus, the Incan highway, which was over 2500 miles in length and extended
D. Columbus, the Incan highway, being over 2500 miles in length, was extended
E. Columbus, the Incan highway was over 2500 miles long, extending

i thought the answer was C, but its actually E!!

[isisalaska]

agree tricky

[guynoor]

I think its pretty straightforward. In Answer choice C "which was" and "extended" should ring an alarm bell.

[drhomler]

I have a question about this one: I would have definitely narrowed it down to C and E but why do you say "which was" and extended shuold ring alarm bells. I thought the answer was ultimately E because it is more concise. are there other reasons that I am missing here? I'm a native English speaker and SC seems to be my greatest challenge. In many ways it is embarassing.

[isisalaska]

guynoor

About "ring alarm bells" I would be VERY CAUTIOUS

[Cybermusings]

E is the only one which fits the bill...A is wrong...B violates parallelism...."being over" is faulty in choice D...C makes the statement sound incomplete

[BTGmoderatorRO]

Option A Columbus was the Incan highway, which, over 2,500 miles long and extending
This option looks correct but it is wrong simply because of the use of 'and' .The statement is a continuous statement explaining how long is the high way.

Option B. Columbus was the Incan highway, over 2500 miles in length, and extended
This is incorrect because of '2500 miles in length' since we have 'miles' after the number there is no need to add 'in length' .

Option C. Columbus, the Incan highway, which was over 2500 miles in length and extended.
This option suffers the same fate as option B. 2500 miles in length' abruptly wrong.

Option D. Columbus, the Incan highway, being over 2500 miles in length, was extended.
being over' that's non sequitur and it makes the statement look wrong.Unsatisfactory!!!

Option E. Finally if others have been wrong,this would definitely be the answer.THIS IS THE CORRECT ANSWER!!!
'Columbus, the Incan highway was over 2500 miles long, extending'
This option clearly depicts the mind of the narrator and it was well constructed to observe the English Language rules.
'the Incan high way was' to say it past tense 'prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus'
'over 2500 miles long' definitely this is showing the length...adding lenght to this makes it a tautology.

',extending' this is a present participle verb to explain and to qualify the 'Incan highway' so a comma(,) is definitely suitable to continue to describe the ancient highway.